Join us for a celebration of Stewards of the Land: Race and Reclaiming Environmental Labor in the American West by Dr. Stevie Ruiz, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Chicana/o Studies. Dr. Ruiz will be in conversation with interlocutor Dr. Amanda Baugh, Professor and Associate Chair of Religious Studies.

Stewards of the Land argues that environmental justice was never just a reaction to pollution in the 1970s but has a much longer history tied to land theft, labor exploitation, and the everyday struggles of frontline communities to live and work with dignity. Drawing from comparative ethnic studies and archival research, and with a commitment to decolonial praxis, Ruiz recovers the stories of those who labored—often invisibly—to build, maintain, and reimagine environmental spaces in the American West.

A reception will follow the conversation.